Friday, February 22, 2008

a little bit of our life


Cousin Elijah. The name which evokes so many emotions. This kid is awesome. He is four. And we wish we lived closer to him (and his parents). Sister Lydia is a favorite too. Jonas likes to say her name, and I like to hear it.


New friends! We now have a few friends who actually live within 10 minutes of us. (Although we're not abandoning our southernly-dwelling friends.) This picture is taken at Professor Pennypickle's house in Temecula. It is the BEST kid's "museum" I've ever been to. We are definitely going back soon.


This finely-crafted toy, "the claw", ($2 dollars, made in China, from the grocery store) has been an amazing teaching lesson for my kids. I have been trying to teach them about too much stuff and how to be kind to the environment. Well, after this toy broke within 10 minutes of purchase, and then the replacement only lasted one day, my kids were convinced. It's SO cool! They don't want cheep junk, and they're getting the sad reality of cheep labor and deforestation. They now ask me which toys are made in China, and if they are good for the environment. I'm really hoping it lasts. We recently ordered them some fair-trade toys. And plan to do so whenever possible. We're teaching ourselves this lesson as we teach them. I'm all cool with this until I realize it means no more $8 Target shirts for me. I want to buy less, and buy local or fair- trade when I do buy.  


And while we're teaching our kids to take care of the environment, why not teach them to shoot guns too? Especially our 2 year old.

3 comments:

Abril said...

Great fun! Charis' new blogs where crackin' me up!! I cannot believe that happened to her Croc! She looks so sad in that pic....is it bad that it made me laugh out loud??

Hope the Hagen home is feeling better! Sorry I didn't call you back....I so fell asleep! We will have to rain check soon :-)

Flo said...

Kate, you never told me you were a sniper. Should I be scared?

mandaroo63 said...

It was nice meeting you on Monday! Now, I can put the face to the blog : ) I try to show my children that, for some reason they love those little quarter machine toys and are always asking for quarters, I'm working on it though! And swords and guns are pretty popular around here with Olivia, she'd have fun with your 2 yr old!